MISPLACED HEDGES, WINDBREAKS, ETC. 119 



the outlines of a bordering hedge would appear?" 

 Then she takes you by the arm and says, "See there ! 

 The wind jumps right down from that hill and hits 

 in front of your barn. What will you do about it? 

 I, old Mother Nature, know what you ought to do ; 

 I have seen this for a long while, and I wanted you 

 here for this particular purpose. You ought to have 

 a windbreak along that west line. It must not cut 

 off your outlook toward the bluff or the glen. It 

 need not do so." So when you once really make 

 the acquaintance of nature, she trots you about your 

 place pointing out needs and possibilities, until you 

 say, "By Jove ! It's ten times as much of a property 

 as I thought. And now with honest planting I am 

 not going merely to utilize it, I am going to improve 

 it. How clever nature is to leave us some things to 

 do ourselves but also to hint to us what is best to be 

 done." Then she has her "studies" of all sorts; 

 around in the wild lots, where she sends us to learn 

 more about the beautiful and the useful. 



Scott, in his "Beautiful Homes" cautions us 

 against hedging our grounds, so that the passer-by 

 cannot enjoy their beauty "an absurd and unchris- 

 tian custom," as much out of place as if we adopted 

 walled courts and barred windows. This is a good 

 argument when used against street hedges, which I 

 have before stated should be abolished altogether, as 

 out of taste and generally a nuisance. Where the 

 streets are not artificially lightened, hedges darken 

 the sidewalk, and, if they are tall, they drip water 

 on the pedestrian in a rainstorm or tear away his 

 umbrella. If kept well trimmed and low, they still 

 have no object along the streets. I insist that we 



